Javid to offer olive branch to police after funding rows

SAJID Javid will today offer an olive branch to police officers following years of clashes.

In his first major speech as Home Secretary, he will seek to end rows over cuts to funding and staff.

He will acknowledge the mounting pressures and demands faced by frontline officers – and namecheck his brother Bas, a chief superintendent with West Midlands Police. His conciliatory tone at the police union’s conference in Birmingham is in marked contrast to that employed by his predecessors Theresa May and Amber Rudd.

As Home Secretary, Mrs May had a stormy relationship with the Police Federation of England and Wales.

In 2012 she was heckled after telling members to ‘stop pretending’ they were being picked on. Four years later she savaged the organisation over its lavish spending, including on a string of holiday homes. She warned police officers to reform the union or face legislation.

Last year Miss Rudd received a frosty response over crime rates and funding settlements. But in a bid to reset relations, Mr Javid will use his address to the annual conference to promise to provide the police with ‘the tools, the powers and the back-up that you need to get the job done’.

He will say: ‘For those of you who stand on the front line, be in no doubt that I will be standing with you.

‘I’m not arrogant enough to turn up here after three weeks in the job and tell you how to do yours. What I will say is that I am listening and I get it. I get that there’s increased demand.’

He will cite accounts shared with him by frontline personnel, saying: ‘You’ve told me you’re feeling stretched, overburdened and not sufficiently rewarded. I know it’s frustrating when your rest days get cancelled – often at short notice.’